I helped her to her feet.
“They aren’t kicking us off the property until afternoon, so we can meet for breakfast,” Kat said. “Everybody wear your thinking caps to bed, and at, say, eight, we can discuss what we’ve come up with to change the Elders’ minds.”
“Kat is right,” my father said. “Listen to her.”
“I plan to,” I said.
Master Dogan gave me a look that said he knew that we were up to something, but he didn’t call us out. Instead, he laid a hand on my shoulder and said, “Think hard.”
Then my mother hugged me and said, “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Her words seemed deliberate, but it wasn’t until Kat and I were alone that I knew why.
“We go at dawn,” Kat said. “It’s when demon activity is the lowest and there are fewer Guardians. The shift change happens at six. I’ll bring the incoming Keepers and Guardians some espresso. Laced with sleeping pills, of course.”
“That might take care of them,” I said, “but we still need my mother’s help to open the Gateway.”
“We have it,” Kat said. “When we were making coffee, I told her the plan and she agreed.”
“While you were making coffee…?” I thought back; they couldn’t have been in the kitchen more than a couple of minutes.
“Just because we’re women doesn’t mean we have to talk everything to death,” she said. “She’ll be there.”
As plans went, it was pretty sketchy.
“We’ll make it work,” I said. We had to.
Kat glanced at her watch. “It’s almost midnight,” she said. “We should get some sleep. I get the feeling tomorrow is going to be a long day.”
“Meet back here at five,” I said. “And thanks. For having my back.”
Kat smiled—her genuine one, not the charm-a-man one—and said, “Let’s go get our girl.”
Kat had been right that I needed sleep, but that didn’t mean it was going to happen. I had five more hours to reach Ember before I was going to have to commit treason against the Institute. For eighteen years, it had been my sole reason for being. I would do it, but if there was any way to avoid it, I had to keep trying.
I settled onto my bed and began reaching out the way my mother had shown me.
Ember, it’s Taren. Can you hear me?
For hours I tried, not only calling out, but telling her what was happening. What if she was hearing me but I wasn’t hearing her? The more information I gave her, the better. Every so often my head bobbed forward and I’d slap myself awake. But the bobbing and slapping started happening more frequently, and sleep became too hard to fight.
19
Ember
The alarm echoed in my mind and throughout the tunnels.
They found us.
Cole and I scrambled to our feet, but before we raced to the door, he grabbed me by the arm.
“I need you to make me a promise.”
“What is it?” I said.
“Whatever happens—if I’m no longer with you—promise that you’ll save who you can, and you won’t stop trying to get them through the Gateway.”
“Cole, I—” I couldn’t bear the thought of him not making it.
“Just promise me,” he said. “And open your thoughts so I know it’s true.”
I lowered my shield and looked into his eyes. “I promise.”
“Thank you,” he said, relief flooding his face. “Thank you.”
Then we bolted from his room, down the corridor, and into the main cavern that overlooked the valley. The mountain range on the far side of the valley swarmed with demons. From that distance I couldn’t make out anything but the hulking shapes of Dahraks, but then the trees began shaking and swaying, and I knew their ranks contained Monkeys. They were closing the distance with every swing from branch to branch. In minutes, they would be upon us.
“Go with Sadah,” Cole said, “Just like the drill.”
“Where do you go?” I said. Drills had become tedious, and I barely paid attention to what I was doing, let alone what Cole’s job was. This was no drill, and the promise I’d just made had turned my stomach.
“We all play our part,” Cole said, turning away and striding toward the mouth of the cave.
He joined a small group of others, each gifted with powers of telekinesis. Their eyes were tight with concentration, and, looking out, I saw that they were felling trees and launching boulders—doing anything they could to slow the attack and buy time for those of us running.
“You have to come with us,” I said, addressing all of the soldiers. “They’re coming too fast.”
We’ll be right behind you, Cole said. Now go.
Instead, I reached for the Chasm. But before I could touch it, Cole spun and gripped my shoulders.
“No!” he said. “The more you use it, the worse it gets. You can’t be laying in bed for the next three days, or worse. We can handle this. Now please, go.”
“Ember!”
Sadah—Grae slung tightly across her chest—was scrambling to pack two large satchels full of grain. A last look at the onslaught, then at Cole, and I raced to help her. I hoisted one of the packs over my shoulders, looping my arms into the makeshift backpack, then helped Sadah into hers.
We raced to the water basin, where two young girls were filling canteens and handing them to people as they raced by. I grabbed one for both Sadah and me.
Just as I was about to duck into the passageway that would take us out of the mountain, I looked back and saw the valley ablaze. Cole and the others were launching fireballs, laying waste to the Oasis, the place that their ancestors had called home for two thousand years.
20
Aryn led as we raced down a passageway that grew more and more narrow, forcing us into a slower, single-file line. The air grew so dense that it felt like I was breathing through a woolen mask, but I managed to press on.
Cole was present in the back of my mind. He wasn’t talking to me, but he was alive, which was comforting.
That changed an hour into our escape. All of a sudden he was just…gone. The panicked look on Sadah’s face told me she’d felt it too.
“Can anyone sense Cole? Or any of the soldiers with him?” I called out into the tunnel.
“No,” came one answer. Then, “Not anymore.”
“No.” Sadah said. “Please, no…”
“We keep marching,” Aryn shouted from up ahead. His words were pained, but firm.
Sadah sagged against the cavern wall, her head in her hands.
“Sadah,” I said quietly, tears stinging my cheeks.
I didn’t know what it meant that all of the soldiers had disappeared in unison, but it couldn’t be good.
“I know,” she whispered, drawing herself up.
We kept marching.
Hours went by and still we marched. Though the bag of grain weighed on me, it was the least of my burdens. The longer I went without word from Cole, the more I was filled with a numbing despair.
By the time we reached the cavern where a stream trickled through, I was ready to collapse, and did. I drained my canteen, refilled it, then drained it again. Sadah tried to comfort a crying Grae, and I did my best to comfort her. Aryn was in a huddle with three other soldiers.
“He could just be unconscious,” I said, trying to convince myself as much as her.
“But there’s been nothing,” she said. “From any of them.”
Grae’s fussing echoed in the large cavern.
“He knew,” I said, the words tasting like ash. “He knew he might not make it.”
“What are you talking about?” she said, even more anxious now.
“When the attack happened, he made me promise…” The words stuck in my throat, so I lowered my shield to show her.
The emptiness I could feel in her heart matched the hole in my own. Cole was a good man. An often infuriating one, but good. If he’d thought that sacrificing himself would help the rest of us escape, he’d have done it in
a second. I guessed the same could be said for any of the soldiers he’d handpicked to stay with him. I wanted to cry—to scream at the unfairness of it—but Cole would tell me to be strong, at least until we were out of danger.
Aryn approached, taking a seat next to Sadah.
“I am sorry, my love,” he said. “But we can’t wait any longer.”
We’d stopped at a critical juncture in the maze of tunnels. Multiple passageways emptied into this cavern, some of them with direct access to outside the mountain, which made it easily accessible by demons. Aryn had put scouts in position, able to warn us of any danger, while we waited. But when we left, the scouts would come with us, and if Cole and the few soldiers with him had survived, they would truly be on their own.
“A few more minutes, husband, please,” Sadah said, her eyes wet with tears.
“Think of what Cole would want,” I said, hating every word.
“He would never leave one of us behind,” she said, shaking her head.
“He would,” Aryn said. “You know he would. If he had to.”
A look passed between them, and Sadah’s face grew grim. But she got to her feet.
We all knew what this meant. The farther we walked, the less likely it was that Cole would reach us. If he was even still alive. An eerie hush descended on the cavern as we quietly filed out.
Each step filled me with sadness, and I heard Sadah crying quietly behind me, but still we marched on.
What now? I thought. I hated thinking strategy at a time like this, but what other choice did I have? I’d made Cole a promise, and I’d keep it or die trying.
Two hours passed and we reached another cavern—this one smaller than the last, with no water source. We all slumped to the ground, weighted down by grief more than our packs. Their dazed expressions matched my own, and I knew I hadn’t been the only one trying to figure out what to do next.
And then…footsteps. Lots of them, coming hard and fast. I felt a mix of panic and relief—was it the soldiers, or had the demons tracked us through the tunnels?
In unison we sprang to our feet, prepared to meet whatever was coming.
It was Cole, followed by the others who had stayed behind with him.
Sadah rushed toward him, but instead of falling into his embrace, she beat his chest with her fists.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were all right?” she said through tears.
Cole held her tiny fists in his hands. “I couldn’t,” he said addressing all of us. “The attack—it was too organized. Something intelligent is leading it. If it’s a new Root, we couldn’t risk it being able to penetrate our shields and following us here.”
A new Root? The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
Before I could ask how that was even possible, Aryn asked, “What’s the plan?”
“We rest,” Cole said, unrolling the blanket that was tied to his back. “We’re going to need it for the march to the emergency shelter. We destroyed several tunnels, including the one that led directly to it. If we succeeded at tricking the demons, we’re safe here. If we didn’t, we aren’t safe anywhere.”
It was the harsh truth, and I found myself somewhat comforted by it. Things were as they were.
I laid down, using my sack of grain for a pillow. I curled into a fetal position trying to conserve as much body heat as I could, but the cold of the stones radiated deep into my bones.
It wasn’t the biting cold or the stench of the dung fires that woke me.
It was the pulsating.
Not just a pulsating, but an actual pulse. It vibrated throughout my insides softly, but with an unmistakeable steadiness. It wasn’t a human. It was a Gateway.
I looked around, sure that others must be sensing it too, but the only activity was firelight flickering on the cavern walls, and the occasional shifting of positions from someone on guard duty. How did they not feel it? Was I going crazy, or in the middle of a manic episode?
The pulse grew stronger, making my legs twitch under my blanket. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I stood up, causing half a dozen sets of eyes to snap open and swivel in my direction.
“Sorry,” I whispered, not daring to lower my shield. “Just need to stretch my legs a bit.”
A few of the guards gave me a nod, but each resumed their watch.
Before I knew what I was doing, I was creeping away from my blankets. I was being compelled, drawn toward a Gateway that I knew couldn’t exist, yet I was certain did exist.
Jasen guarded the tunnel that led back to the ruined oasis. I passed him, acting as casually as I could, guessing he would raise the alarm at anything trying to enter, not someone going out. For all he knew, I was going to the relieve myself.
I rounded a corner and paused. It made no sense, what I was doing. None. There wasn’t some mystery Gateway. Was there? If I left the relative safety of the group, there might be no going back. I couldn’t simply retrace my steps; the soldiers had destroyed the path we’d taken in order to throw off the demons. It was decision time, but really, I’d already made it. There was a Gateway, and I was going to find it.
Any sense of fatigue was a distant memory; my body hummed with energy. I broke into a run, zig-zagging my way toward possible salvation.
Despite my determination, each twist of the tunnel was frightening. The deeper I went into the unknown, the less likely it was that I’d ever find my way back to the others. I chose intuitively, no longer sure where I was. It occurred to me that maybe this was a trick of some kind. If there was a new Root in town, maybe it was manipulating me into thinking there was a Gateway in order to separate me from Cole and the others. Too late now, I thought. For better or worse, I was all in.
I lost track of time, focused on nothing but the next turn, but when I recognized a familiar pathway, I realized how far I’d come. Another half-mile and I’d be back to the Oasis. I moved slowly now, aware that demons could be lurking. The Gateway hummed through me, spurring me forward. How could it have been this close to the Oasis and no one had ever felt it?
Like the first time I’d stepped into the cavern that overlooked the valley, I was stunned, but for a very different reason. I hadn’t let myself think about what I’d be walking into. The cavern was half caved in and filled with rubble, but what lay below was much worse. The land was completely charred. Nothing but twisted black stumps remained of the trees that had stood for centuries as well as the crops that had been planted when I’d first arrived.
Demon corpses littered the ground by the thousands. But they weren’t what seized my heart. Lying crumpled on a ledge, her bow and arrows by her side, was Cassia. Cassia, who had gotten my to leave my blankets and rejoin the living. Who’d handed me a palette and told me to paint my story as I would. I had known she wasn’t with us, but until that moment I’d held out hope.
I dropped to my knees and began to cry, but the grief stopped in my throat when I looked up and gasped at what I saw.
The dense canopy of clouds that had once sheltered the valley were gone, revealing the harsh reality of the sky. Lightning split forth, and the sea of roiling black clouds parted.
Glittering golden, far above me, was a Gateway.
21
My heart soared. A Gateway meant freedom.
I reached out and felt myself merge with it. It was strong, vibrant, and most definitely locked. And yet the same knowing that had brought me here told me that I held the key.
Who was on the other side? I wondered. How was it possible that Cole didn’t know anything about it?
You didn’t until a few hours ago, I reminded myself. Had generations of shielding themselves from the rest of the demon world kept them from knowing how close they were to escape? Master Dogan would have something clever and metaphoric to say about that, I was sure.
I didn’t have time to contemplate deeper meanings. I closed my eyes to center myself, and reached out for Cole—a whisper-thin sending meant only for him.
Cole, wake up.
No re
sponse at first, but then, Ember?
Cole, I found a Gateway!
He was awake now; I sensed his confusion and disbelief.
Instead of explaining, I opened my eyes and allowed him to see what I was seeing—a Gateway, glowing gold against the harsh sky.
If a person could mentally choke, that’s what Cole did. But then, his thought barely a whisper, he said, The ninth Gate...
The ninth? You mean the tenth.
That’s what I’d always been taught—there were nine Gateways. That the Institute knew of, anyway.
What? No, there were only—never mind; it doesn’t matter. Are you safe?
I swept my gaze across the valley again, letting Cole see the destruction and desolation. Doesn’t look like anyone is here, I said.
Whether because he’d allowed me to, or been too upset to stop me, I felt his heart break at seeing his home this way. He quickly shut it down, though, and said, It won’t stay that quiet for long. A Gateway is a beacon for demons. Find a place to hide. I’ll be there as soon as I can.
Bring everyone, I said. I can open it.
That’s not how it works—
It is this time. Please, Cole, trust me. Bring everyone and let’s get the hell out of here.
I felt him hesitate and knew he was weighing his options.
OK, he said finally. We’ll see you soon. Stay safe.
He closed our connection, but I could reach him if I needed to.
I knew I should be exhausted, but I was too wired to sit still. I found the stub of a torch and began wandering the desolate caverns.
Eventually I found myself in the passageway that depicted the history of Cole’s ancestors. The sadness and loss was palpable. It was as if the cavern itself mourned the loss of the Oasis.
For a moment I contemplated the paints and brushes on the ground, but decided against finishing my piece of the story. Instead, I walked slowly, trying to memorize what I could of the history. It seemed like the respectful thing to do.
The Gateway Trilogy: Complete Series: (Books 1-3) Page 46
